[Outpost IV] GM Zin's CORE 4-19 The Night March of Kalkamedes (Inactive)

Game Master Zin Z'arin

No worries. If you get through your shortcut quickly, you can shoot any bandits that start following him or grab his rope and tie it to a tree if they're all still distracted.

Does Challa know about the map and that we can move our tokens around each turn?

She should; at least, she's had the opportunity to know: I explicitly asked her to place a token on the map; she never responded (which is why her token is a loaf of Jewish bread).

If she hadn't already posted in Discussion, I'd question whether she knew this forum existed.

She continues to post at an acceptable rate of 1 post a day, so she's meeting expectations for the game. I believe this table is more than willing to provide any aid that she needs to use these boards to their fullest extent, but at this point, she needs to ask for the help she needs. Absent that, my assumption is that she is participating at the level she wants to.

Continuing to post about her in the third person, though, borders on passive-aggressive rudeness; let's reign that in.

Challa, we're all here to help you get more comfortable on these forums. The Paizo boards are a rich venue for deep roleplay, if you want to take advantage of what they offer. If you want help or advice with anything, please let us know!

If she hadn't already posted in Discussion, I'd question whether she knew this forum existed.

Maybe we should post a reminder in gameplay that the discussion thread also exists.

Challa, we're all here to help you get more comfortable on these forums. The Paizo boards are a rich venue for deep roleplay, if you want to take advantage of what they offer. If you want help or advice with anything, please let us know!

I am really impressed and happy to see that this community seems to be very open and inclusive.

Map is too small for me to tell who is who. Have no idea where Challa is in relation to everyone else.

Map is too small for me to tell who is who. Have no idea where Challa is in relation to everyone else.

Are you on mobile? There's a magnifying glass icon to zoom in if you're viewing the map on a computer, but I'm not sure what the interface is like on mobile. Your token actually isn't showing up on the map right now when I look at it, but last I saw, you were toward the bottom right on the main path.

Yup, the map got really messed up; Challa's token was deleted; the map itself was resized and moved, and there were some added shapes that didn't need to be there. I've restored it as best as I can.

After seeing Leon's rolls and then her own, Merida decided to write a note to the dice bot... ;-)
#Relationships #IAmSorry #AllHopeIsLost #GallowsHumor

Lol. Nice note!

Also, thanks for the congrats on that swing. He's definitely not set up for crits, but if it happens than he is going to end a life very quickly.

An Offering of Dice for the Dice Bot: 1d20 ⇒ 12
An Offering of Dice for the Dice Bot: 1d12 ⇒ 9
An Offering of Dice for the Dice Bot: 1d10 ⇒ 2
An Offering of Dice for the Dice Bot: 1d8 ⇒ 8
An Offering of Dice for the Dice Bot: 1d6 ⇒ 4
An Offering of Dice for the Dice Bot: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Yeah, you guys are in trouble, and it has nothing to do with tactics. On both sides, the tactics have been reasonable; you just haven't been getting the rolls!

I know your action economy is rough right now, especially as PCs are dropping. I think you really need to start threatening the bandits so they can't just fire on you without consequence.

Just a rules gripe: The "run" mechanic seems kind of pointless since you can only "run" in a perfectly straight line.

I was hoping to be able to just smack some bandits with my battleaxe before they started killing all my friends with their stupid arrows so I had to heal them. Bandit jerks.

Just for clarification (or, at least, my interpretation), a straight line doesn't have to mean a cardinal or rook move from chess; as long as you can draw a straight (unimpeded) arrow from your start to your end position, and you calculate the distance correctly, I would say that run works. I.e. the ~30° angle from you to Corgrim is achievable via run, if you want to.

Also, yes. Bandits are jerks. It's built-in to the profession. They just want to kill you and steal your stuff.

Thanks for the honest update, Nightkit; I corrected your hp total in the Initiative block.

I want to take a moment again to point out that one of the things going against you strategically is that the bandits can just keep firing arrows from safety. Think about ways to take that advantage away.

It's not lost yet, though it certainly looks bleak.

I guess we can be incredibly thankful that Kalkamedes can soak 47 HP of damage and keep on trekking, because if we had to soak that much all of us would already be dead.

I don't know if there is a huge difference between 1d8+1 shooting arrows and 1d6+1 stabbing in melee, but obviously Leon wants to get up in their grill and remove their heads regardless.

It's fight and kill OR die pretty much right now.

I was thinking about charging one of the bandits to engage them in melee.
My AC would increase by 1 - and the others would have to fire into melee which should make it harder for them.

I did not do it yet because it also means one attack instead of two from Merida.

Opinions?

If we could get through a round here soon without someone new starting to die, that would be great. I feel like I’ve been playing the Cure Light Wounds Fairy for this encounter. Haha

I was thinking about charging one of the bandits to engage them in melee.

My AC would increase by 1 - and the others would have to fire into melee which should make it harder for them.

I did not do it yet because it also means one attack instead of two from Merida.

Opinions?

Theoretically more attacks would give a better chance that at least one of them hits, but apparently the dice bot is a bandit sympathizer.

I gave it another thought:

Besides Rapid Shot and Point Blank Shot Merida has also the Precise Shot feat. So she would not take the -4 penalty for firing into melee.

The bandits do have PBS, but no Rapid Shot (or they would have shot twice the arrows) and I doubt that they have Precise Shot.
So if anyone else would pull the bandits with the bows into melee that would be great.

Grigory, is there a way you can hit green? I think he's just barely standing...

Leon takes another hack at the bandit, hoping to land something. After all, they seem to make it look so easy.

[...]

Throws hands in the air...

Well, no wonder you do not hit, Leon. That's not the right way to attack with a scythe... ;-P

Grigory, is there a way you can hit green? I think he's just barely standing...

Leon the Brute wrote:

Leon takes another hack at the bandit, hoping to land something. After all, they seem to make it look so easy.

[...]

Throws hands in the air...

Well, no wonder you do not hit, Leon. That's not the right way to attack with a scythe... ;-P

He saw a juggler in the street try that trick with a scythe once... it was a very entertaining.

Though he wonders sometimes if they ever found that guy’s head.

LOL! Well,I'm glad your head is still attached to your body.

A splash weapon would come in handy now - unfortunately Merida did not buy one...

@Grigory:
If you want to run as a full round action, it has to be in a straight line. Unfortunately, difficult terrain prevents running.
Source

LOL! Well,I'm glad your head is still attached to your body.

A splash weapon would come in handy now - unfortunately Merida did not buy one...

@Grigory:
If you want to run as a full round action, it has to be in a straight line. Unfortunately, difficult terrain prevents running.
Source

I was going by GM's response to my rules gripe about straight line running: "I would say that run works. I.e. the ~30° angle from you to Corgrim is achievable via run, if you want to."

I can redo my turn if I misinterpreted my ability to get to Corgrim in one round, but Grigory would have no way of knowing that Corgrim had stabilized himself until he got closer anyway.

Merida Bowie wrote:

LOL! Well,I'm glad your head is still attached to your body.

A splash weapon would come in handy now - unfortunately Merida did not buy one...

@Grigory:
If you want to run as a full round action, it has to be in a straight line. Unfortunately, difficult terrain prevents running.
Source

I was going by GM's response to my rules gripe about straight line running: "I would say that run works. I.e. the ~30° angle from you to Corgrim is achievable via run, if you want to."

I can redo my turn if I misinterpreted my ability to get to Corgrim in one round, but Grigory would have no way of knowing that Corgrim had stabilized himself until he got closer anyway.

That was in reference to running down the main central path, which is a straight line. I was trying to illustrate that straight doesn't have to mean 0/45/90 degree angles. As long as there are no obstructions between your start and end point, any angle is straight.

In this case, there is difficult terrain between your start and end point; you have to turn a corner to get around that, so the run action isn't an option.

If I could have phrased that better initially, my apologies.

@Grigory:
If you want you could cut the last corner diagonally in order to move one square further - could be important...

@Grigory:

If you want you could cut the last corner diagonally in order to move one square further - could be important...

Good catch. Diagonals screw me up. I lose track of whether the next one costs 5 or 10 feet of movement so I end up retracing it a bunch of times to make sure and still screw it up.

Oh my, I was not aware that the green Bandit has cover. :-(
Merida would have moved up to get better aim... My bad.

PS: Challa has posted before you, GM Zin, you can update your update. ;-)

@GM Zin:
Is every square with partly tree art considered difficult terrain?
Or is there a minimum percentage (like 50%) of trees for a square to count as difficult terrain?

Related important question:
Could Leon charge the green bandit, stopping in the square directly northeast of him?

I might have misinterpreted the map - so if you could clarify for me it would be highly appreciated.
Thanks!

It was my assumption that square he went around on the map was indeed difficult terrain. If it is ruled as not being, he would totally charge green... with murder in his eyes!

Though to be fair, his eyes just generally look like that most of the time.

Yes, all squares with trees are difficult terrain and provide cover (that note's been on the map since the beginning). As far as which squares "count" as having trees? Yeah, 50%ish is a good rule. Leon's instincts were correct; I would have ruled that square to be difficult terrain.

No more updates tonight, but the AoOs definitely took out blue.

Nightkit, you still have your normal round's worth of actions, in addition to the AoO.

On mobile not sure if my gameplay post went through or not but Grigory follows the red line I made earlier today to get beside corgrim.

Nightkit double moves across the path in an attempt to regain a flank with Leon against green.

Although she is considering just making a dash for it to catch up with Kalkamedes but that means running a gauntlet of arrow fire - probably not a good idea in her current state of health - but it could be argued this move isn't either.

I was just thinking maybe either Corgrim or Grigory should try to run down Kalky and tie the end of the rope to a tree once Corgrim's conscious again. I'm not sure how far off the screen he's gotten at this point, but he's been walking for a few rounds since he got past the bandits.

I was just thinking maybe either Corgrim or Grigory should try to run down Kalky and tie the end of the rope to a tree once Corgrim's conscious again. I'm not sure how far off the screen he's gotten at this point, but he's been walking for a few rounds since he got past the bandits.

That's a very good idea! Kalky is slow, but we should try not to completely lose him...

Out of you two I think Corgrim should do it.
Grigory has more HP - and a greataxe... ;-)

If we could get through a round here soon without someone new starting to die, that would be great. I feel like I’ve been playing the Cure Light Wounds Fairy for this encounter. Haha

Grigory, it does seem the dice bot wants you to keep playing "life fairy". ;-)

Just a thought:
Corgrim is stable (and your character might not have seen what happened to Nightkit), so Grigory could consider introducing the red bandit to his greataxe... ;-)
You could also charge him (+2 to attack) and draw your axe in the process, if you move straight to the orange plus sign.

Next round Merida will try to help Leon in melee by (at least) setting up a flank against green - unless he drops him first...

Edit: If any of you think I am overstepping with my suggestions, please feel free to tell me to shut up. ;-)

I was planning on booping Corgrim with the sparkly wand one more time to wake him up so I could tell him to chase Kalky, then on my next turn running down the path and chopping Mr. Red in his dumb bandit face.

But now that I see you guys are taking all the bandit killing fun, I might just have to reconsider before I miss out on my chance to apply some ouchies instead of fixing them.

Anybody else get a delay where you submit a post in gameplay, but the page reloads and your new post isn't displayed? It's giving me anxiety that I keep losing posts.

Anybody else get a delay where you submit a post in gameplay, but the page reloads and your new post isn't displayed? It's giving me anxiety that I keep losing posts.

^ I often get that issue, and so it's my habit to refresh the browser until I can see my post.

But you can check if the forum accepted your post (not sure if that works on mobile, too):
If the number in the address bar of your browser is one higher than the number of the last post displayed, you just have to refresh the page (sometimes more than once). Just move the mouse cursor over the date/time of the last post to see the number in the link shown in the status bar.

Maybe it shows that I work in IT - always trying to solve (first world) problems... ;-)

As long as you see an indication of your post in 'Recent Threads' below this, it's there. But yeah, there always seems to be a delay before the new post appears - especially when there is a metatag in it.

Phew! We are alive! Barely, but still...
Congrats on the final hits!

Anyhow, I have a (more or less) unrelated question, @GM Zin:

First, please let me say that I have no intention to rush anyone.
I very much enjoy the scenario so far! Ok, ok, the grumpy dice bot not so much... ;-)
But I'd like to get an idea how far we already got in this scenario. In other words, when do you expect it to end?

The reason for my question is simple and has nothing to do with this game:
There was another CORE game announced at Flaxseed that I expressed interested in, recruiting was planned to start in a week +/- a few days. But now the GM unexpectedly is able to and will start earlier.

So if you think that Kalky's march will be wrapped up in a few days, I will confirm my seat.
But if you expect it'll take longer, I will gladly give it up - no harm done.

Last, I have no intention to rush anyone. I still want to enjoy the rest of the scenario with all of you!

There is one encounter location to go.

It's possible that we could complete it in that time frame, but I wouldn't want to guarantee it. When we've entered combat, each round has pretty much taken a full day, and it took 8 rounds to deal with a party of bandits. You're out of an important resource (Challa's inspire courage) that both helps you hit and helps you hit harder.

Thanks for the quick answer! :-D

Ok, then it's an easy decision - Merida will not join that game.

Looking forward to the next encounter! (but I'll prefer healing first...)

With that last roll, why do I think the dice roller just gave Nightkit the middle finger salute?

With that last roll, why do I think the dice roller just gave Nightkit the middle finger salute?

I'm waiting for one of us to roll a Natural 0.

Are the map features in the bottom corners anything of interest? Not sure what the rectangular thing is in the bottom right corner.

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks, looks like you're right. I updated my sheet with correct numbers. I'll be unstoppable now that I'm not actively making things harder for myself.

@GM Zin:
I just realized that the glitch at the paizo boards with the faction logo of the CORE characters always being GRAND LODGE resulted in some of us getting a wrong faction mission. Sorry for not double-checking earlier. :-(

I really should learn to remember the name of my faction leader: Diamond Sage Tahonikepsu, Diamond Sage Tahonikepsu, Diamond Sage Tahonikepsu...

Would it be possible to post the correct missions (spoilered) here in discussion? Also, could we retcon if necessary?

The correct factions of our characters are listed below:

Merida: Scarab Sages (got Grand Lodge mission)
Leon: Liberty’s Edge (got Grand Lodge mission)
Nightkit: Liberty's Edge (got Grand Lodge mission)
Challa: Liberty’s Edge (correct)
Grigory: Grand Lodge (correct)
Corgrim: Dark Archive (correct)

Yeah. I'm actually wondering if I should make Nightkit Grand Lodge instead of Liberty's Edge because of that.

Yeah. I'm actually wondering if I should make Nightkit Grand Lodge instead of Liberty's Edge because of that.

So I went and checked on the thread where I reported the issue recently. Apparently Tyrannius is able to make the correction for Core characters. All you need to do is send them a PM with your character name, pfs # for the character and what faction they are supposed to be.

I'm pretty sure this is the best (and likely only) way to get it fixed and it is pretty darn easy to just send a PM.